I love generic brand products. I will fight to the last breath for my Shoppers’ Choice Adhesive Bandages rather than pay an extra $0.49 for Band-Aids. So why, then, have I been paying up to $395 every month for brand-name medication for the last …
Category: Medications
We’re failing people with opioid use disorder [PODCAST]
“We know regulators can move quickly to confront a health crisis because we have seen it in action. During COVID, the nation eased regulatory burdens at all levels of government to help health systems and doctors leverage technology and change th…
Medication management and how consultant pharmacists can help
Management of medications is sometimes handled sub-optimally, at least in the United States. At the extreme, physicians who prescribe multiple medications prescribe some medications that treat the side effects of other medications. This could be consid…
Patients are captive pharmacy benefits manager consumers
I still recall the ICU physician holding my hand and preparing me for the possibility I might not survive the blood clots in my lungs, pulmonary embolism. It was eighteen years ago when out of the blue, I found myself unexpectedly holding the hand of t…
Do prescription drug monitoring programs hurt more than they help?
It was a warm summer in Maine but felt like a cold winter in the confines of the hospital building. I was seated next to a physician who was quietly working on a big screen monitor. It was a slow workday as I pondered tips and tricks to make the physic…
The status quo is failing people with opioid use disorder
As we anticipated the release of new CDC data on overdose deaths, those of us who specialize in substance use disorders braced for grim statistics, but this milestone was still shocking: over 100,000 lives lost to overdoses in one year, the great major…
How drug distributors contributed to the opioid crisis
A recent headline in my neighborhood newspaper read, “A Dentist Became a Top Opioid Buyer in W. Va. Now a Drug Firm Faces Penalty for Ignoring Red Flags.” The drug firm sent 25,400 hydrocodone pills and 3,600 Xanax to one Huntington, WV are…
Is Descovy really the better option?
When the FDA approved Gilead’s Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil) for HIV PrEP in 2012, it was a revolutionary step forward. The drug was safe and up to 99 percent effective in preventing HIV infection in at-risk individuals. Then in 20…
How did we let insurers run health care?
How did we Americans allow health insurers to dictate how physicians practice good medicine? The hypocritic oath says, “Do no harm.” We should not allow insurance company profits to prevent proper care for patients. Our insurer is now telli…
Are collagen supplements good for you? A physician’s deep dive answer.
I was asked this question at least three times this week, so I think there must be something going around. It doesn’t help that a Kardashian with 140 million Instagram followers recently signed a deal to become an equity partner and global spokeswoman…
